Wow, where do I even begin?! This week has flown by, but it felt like it was dragging while I was in the midst of it…a lot has happened and I will do my best to catch you up. I’ve missed writing, and I’m sorry that I haven’t written recently…so here you go, the adventures of Week 5!!!
Last weekend, Friday-Saturday (23-24) we traveled to the north of Spain to Bilbao. It is near San Sebastian, and absolutely beautiful…after a four hour bus ride we arrived in Bilbao about 9 pm, and headed to our hotel. We were all pretty tired so we stayed in and order a pizza and enjoyed some “girl time”, laughing, talking and actually a whole lot of abs work! J We awoke to the beautiful Spanish sunshine and enjoyed a leisurely stroll by the river down to the Guggenheim Museum. Which if you are not familiar with the museum, there are only 4 in the world, one in New York, and I’m not sure where the others are. It is a contemporary art museum and was really fascinating. We spent about an hour there, and then walked back to old town Bilbao and ate some really good hamburgers!! While we were down town we came across a whole wedding crowd standing outside of the church, one of the most beautiful wedding’s I’ve ever seen…it was fun to see the different Spanish styles, weddings here are A LOT more fancy than most weddings I’ve been to
I took off from Bilbao about 4 pm by myself back to Valladolid, my friends were staying for the night and then to San Sebastian the next day…but I came back because I had to go to Madrid the next day to pick up my friend!!! The funniest thing though, I got on the Bus in Bilbao and I was the ONLY one on the bus!!! So for about 2 ½ hours I had a bus to myself, played some musical chairs, slept and enjoyed the indescribable scenery, I felt like I was driving through a calendar. But it was really nice to come back and relax a little bit, I got to talk to Brandon on skype which was amazing because we don’t always get to talk that much….
Sunday—was an interesting day. I was supposed to be on a bus at 6 am to the airport in Madrid to get my friend Natalie Morgan (one of my roommates my first year at Poly) who came for the week…but day light savings happened during the night, and I got all messed up and ended up over sleeping my bus…ran to the station, there were no more, had to go to the train station and get a train ticket…but of course the computers at the station weren’t working in the moment, so I had to wait, but after all that I ended up on train headed for Madrid, I jumped on the Metro and eventually found Natalie at the airport. We spend the afternoon together in Madrid and came back later that night….on a side note, I cannot tell you enough how amazing Natalie is, I mean if the fact that she flew to Spain just to see me for a whole week isn’t enough…she’s amazing. We became great friends my freshman year through living together. She’s older than me and now lives in Ventura teaching. When I first planned on coming to Spain she told me “I’ll be there!” and I’ve heard that before, but Nat really means it, so she came on her fall break and it was amazing
So then Monday morning came and thus began the craziness! Seeing as its week 5 that means midterms…I had two big midterms on Thursday…in my Culture of Spain and Witch Hunt Class. So the it was hard because I really just wanted to be hanging out with Natalie, but I was studying a lot…she’s a trooper, she went all over Valladolid in the mornings while I was in class, then we’d meet up at my house eat, and she would hang out while we studied somewhere, then she came to class with us in the evening, and then more studying…so in the midst of so much studying we got to hang out…Wednesday night was really nice because I took a study break and Nat and I went on a long walk by the river, and were just able to talk and enjoy being together! Then we went out to dinner together…it was awesome. She was so amazing, and easy going, went with the flow the whole time and was super supportive during my crazy week which was amazing…
THURSDAY---test day. Lots of studying went on this day as well…but it all paid off because I think my exams went really well…so I am pleased about that…and I felt so good after the tests…so to celebrate the week…what better to do than go to a Real Valladolid Futbol (soccer) game?!?! Yes Natalie and I experienced together our first Spanish game, and it was amazing. Real Valladolid vs. Mallorca (from the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain) and we won!!! I love the atmosphere at a game, so much energy and passion, I miss being able to go to more games in Ecuador…those are great memories…so now I’ve added to that with my game here! We went with a big group of students from our group…
Friday—was such a relaxing day…I felt so carefree and just sigh…happy to be done and able to hang out with Nat…I went to class in the morning and then met up with her around one to go and explore more of Valladolid. Between class and meeting up with Nat however, I got in such an amazing with one of the guys on our trip…and we talked about all kinds of things, it was super challenging and exciting to see God giving me an opportunity to talk about Him and challenge my friend to think…we talked about what we were willing to die for? How this part of our lives fits into our goals for the future? He has super interesting perspectives on life and the meaning and goals in life, so it was fun to be challenged by him and to challenge him in return…super super exciting for me…you can be praying for more conversations.
After that we made a feast lunch consisting of peanut butter (which is a novelty in Spain) and Jelly sandwiches, apples and bananas…once we were filled we hit the town. We met up with some of my friends and walked through town to the big park in town…we walked around the park…got some delicious ice cream and then Natalie and I went SHOPPING! She got some really cute boots….but most of all it was just fun to be a “tourist” (mostly I’m in class or on a trip) in Valladolid and just enjoy such a relaxing afternoon with her!
There is an international film festival in Valladolid this week so there are red carpets stretched out on the sidewalks as you walk around town. So last night, me Natalie, Tiffany, Aubrea and Kristen went and saw a French film called “The Army of Crime”, in French with Spanish/English subtitles…It was a movie about the French Resistance during World War II and the people who gave their lives for it…absolutely beautifully done. If you’ve seen “Life is Beautiful” (an Italian movie) it is a lot like that. The theatre we went to is like an Opera house, it was so beautiful…
After the movie we walked around town some more, got some dinner and chocolate and churros (a Spanish specialty) and then back home…Natalie had to be at the bus station at 3:45 am this morning, so we went to bed at 1 am for a 2 hour nap, took her to the bus station, came home by 4:30, went to bed for another 2 hours, was up by 7 because I’m on my way to Santander for the weekend…we have a holiday on Monday, so its been a short night…but here I am driving once again through beautiful country to the north coast of Spain!
This is long…but I wanted to get you all caught up and then from here on…stay caught up…thank you for your prayers and support even without knowing what I’ve been up to!
I will put up pictures later today but here you have the information! Much love to each one of you!
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